Category Archives: C.S. Lewis

Voyage to Venus (originally published as Perelandra) is the second book in C.S. Lewis’ Cosmic Trilogy. Compared to the other two in the trilogy, this one best fits the mold of a ‘proper’ allegory. Ransom’s journey to Perelandra (known to us as the planet Venus), his subsequent enmity with the creature animating the body of his old rival, Weston, and their fight to either preserve (in Ransom’s case) or corrupt (in ‘Weston’s’) the integrity of the Green Lady, (Queen of Perelandra) during the absence of her husband the King is clearly tied to the struggle outlined in the Biblical book of Genesis between Eve and the Serpent. However, in this book, the idea is that the people of Earth (or Thulcandra) fell to the powers of the Evil One, but on Perelandra another planet’s Mother is given a chance at succeeding against temptation where she of Earth did not, as well as the results of that success. The idea carries through with a great deal of philosophical and theological dialogue back and forth. The dialogue between Ransom and the Evil One reads almost like a treatise in conversational form, and that between the King and Queen of Perelandra, the god Mars, the goddess Venus, and Ransom is clearly rooted in the tradition of Greek chorus. With its dense content and fine print, this book is a more difficult one to get through. It is not a light read. It is a fine piece of intellectual science fiction, especially for those interested in allegory or classical themes, but those looking for a novel will be searching in the wrong place. The next book in this trilogy, That Hideous Strength, is my favourite of the three, however, as it is allegorical like the first two, but also reads like a fantasy novel. It is easy when reading the third book to remember that this is the same man who gave the world The Chronicles of Narnia. The first two books in this trilogy, however, are more reminiscent of the Mere Christianity and The Great Divorce side of Lewis. More character development and description in this second book was nice. I can’t wait to reread the third. 🙂